


Tell me if you feel it too

by orphan_account



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bisexual Character, Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Lesbian Character, a bunch of other characters are going to show up at some point probably, billy and teddy are the worst, everyone is probably totally ooc I am sorry Idk how to write, this is literally just the product of not paying attention in class
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-08 18:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11652183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Miss America always showed up to the weights room at 8:45 am sharp and never cracked a smile. No, that's an understatement. Miss America arrived at 8:45 am sharp with a look on her face like she was ready to kill you in half a glance, so don't you dare try to cross her.***In which the gang are relatively-normal high school students, and Kate and Billy meet in self-defense class, Kate's got a crush on the mysterious girl with the American flag jacket, Billy's kinda an asshole, shit happens.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay wow I can't believe I'm actually posting this. Anyways, basically, I took self-defense as a PE elective last year and have like zero attention span so I was off daydreaming like every time my teacher was trying to explain something to us, and somehow came up with the plot of this fic. Okay actually though, I started thinking about how out of the entire class, there were no cis-straight dudes and sorta what that kinda meant about society yada yada more deep stuff and THAT eventually lead to me writing this fic. 
> 
> Okay, disclaimer: this DOES talk about Kate being assaulted, since in the comics that's part of what drives her to start taking self-defense lessons. It's never directly shown, but she mentions it to characters and talks about the aftermath. I've personally never been the victim of sexual assault and my portrayal of Kate comes from what I've learned while helping friends who have gone through a similar experiences recover and reading about assault basically. If there's anything I say that seems inaccurate/insensitive please let me know.
> 
> The Young Avengers really gave me some of the first characters I found that I could relate to as a queer teen. Although I guess Kate is usually dubbed the "token straight friend", I really like the idea of her being bisexual and not really coming to terms with it until a bit later than the rest of the gang. Hoping to bring in some other characters as the story progresses. Please enjoy this hot mess of a fic. I wrote like 90% of this at 1 am.
> 
> Ohh, the title is from Girls Like Girls by Hayley Kiyoko because I am Not A Subtle Person.

Miss America always showed up to the weights room at 8:45 am sharp and never cracked a smile. No, that's an understatement. Miss America arrived at 8:45 am sharp with a look on her face like she was ready to kill you in half a glance, so don't you dare try to cross her.   
  
Not that she ever would.   
  
Kill someone-- with a half glance, that is. Despite her take no shit attitude, Miss America never seemed to actively try to hurt someone in any way. Well, except for that one guy with the green hoodie who wouldn't leave her alone that one time. But come on, he kinda deserved it.   
  


Miss America always wore black leggings and a American flag jacket over her blue tank top (hence, the nickname). She rarely talked to anyone-- never looked over at the purple clad student caught staring at her time and time again.   
  


And… yeah. Kate was a little head over heels.   
  
Kate's daydreams were interrupted by a water bottle barely missing her nose. The near-assailant looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. Kate rolled her eyes. "What?"   
"Nothing..." the boy smirked before ungracefully flopping down next to her. "I didn't say anything..."   
"Mmhhmmm"   
"...but like hey, so, what if you just walked right up to her-"   
Kate swatted at him with her water bottle.   
"Hey!" Billy yelped. "I'm just trying to help ya-"   
"So how's Theodore?" The boy choked out a stuttered cough. Okay, that might have been a bit mean.   
"He's- you-  _ Kate _ \- no-  _ really?? _ "   
Kate couldn't help herself and laughed. "You know there's a saying about pots and kettles-"   
"Shuddup."   
Kate smirked and looked down at the water bottle in her hands. Billy really had no right to criticize her about her hopeless crush, yet what could she really say to him when-   
"Hey, it's been 5 minutes, we should probably start heading back."   
"Oh, yeah, right..."   
"Hey..."   
"What?"   
Billy shrugged. And smirked. "Just talk to her-"   
"Bye!" she stood up and walked towards the studio.   
"Hey!" Billy called racing after her.   
  
***   
  
Jab cross hook. Jab cross hook. 

Kick. 

Kick again. Kneeing is always a good idea. 

Knee again-   
  


"Hey! Look I'm sorry okay!! I was joking-"   
Kate snapped out of her trance and stopped striking the targets in front of her. Billy peaked over the top of the mitts, clearly still in fear of her apparent jab at revenge.   
"Um... sorry," Kate mumbled, "I kinda zoned out there."   
"Uh huh," Billy didn't look convinced. "Just... maybe try to  _ tone it down a notch _ next time you 'zone out' please??"   
Kate blinked. She didn't know why she was acting like this. Sure, she could get off track. She could zone out, she could make mistakes but...   
  


That girl.   
  


_ Snap out of it, _ she thought to herself.  _ You don't even know her name. _

  
"Hey," not for the first time that morning that Kate had to snap back into reality from her mindless daydreaming. Billy looked almost... apologetic.   
Almost.   
  
“BISHOP-- KAPLAN,” Kate and Billy turned in synch, equally startled by their sudden acknowledgment. Barnes was striding across the room (“the murder murder death strut,” Billy called it) towards the pair. “Cut the chit chat!”

 

“Sorry!” Kate called back, hands apologetically. Their self-defense teacher was pretty strict on participation. 

 

Kate turned back to Billy as her partner let out a sigh. He started taking off the mitts. "Here," he says handing them to her. "My turn to vent out some queer rage." Kate raised an eyebrow in question. "Just fucking don't ask" he says rolling his eyes.   
  
———   
  


So here’s how it goes.

 

Kate Bishop, 11th grade, too rich for her own good. Has anything she could ever want, felt like the world was at her fingertips.

 

And when things start falling apart, it doesn’t exactly happen all at once, but it feels like it.

 

It starts when her mom dies. Six months before her sister’s wedding and the only legitimate parent Kate’s ever had is gone from her life. And the loss only makes her father more distant, and her sister, well, she’s not that much older than Kate.

 

Then her best friend tells her she’s moving to Miami.  _ Miami. _ Futzing Miami. And Cassie’s telling her this, how she’s angry at her mom and doesn’t want to leave her life behind, and Kate’s heartbroken. She doesn’t wanna see her best friend go, yeah, but there’s something else too. Something that’s always kinda been there in the back of Kate’s mind, at the bottom of her heart, but she never really thought twice about it. She never really thought it was anything important until now.

So they cried and cried, until Kate decided they needed ice cream. And they laughed and they talked, and Kate didn’t bring up the way Cassie’s smile made her heart do somersaults and her brain scramble around in confusion.  _ No, _ she thought,  _ not now _ .  _ Now’s not the time _ .

 

Sixteen years old, and Kate was beginning to realize things about herself she never would’ve thought to consider before. Sixteen years old, and Kate had once thought she had it all figured out. Huh. Things change.

 

Things just keep changing.

 

Kate begins to realize things about herself and her place in the world. She’s lucky, she’s always know that, but she’s never really known how lucky. All of a sudden, Kate’s friends are stressing about scholarships and part-time jobs, while Kate’s too busy deciding what to wear to her father’s latest gala or whatever.

 

She couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

 

Back when Kate’s mother was alive, she would sometimes drag kate out to soup kitchens and other volunteer events. Kate always complained and cried that she wanted to go home because really, she was a little kid who didn't know any better, and it wasn't like her father was much help convincing her the work was good. That was always a point of disagreement between Kate's mother and father. Derek bishop could never understand why his wife was so hellbent on helping what he assumed were drug addicts and welfare queens.

 

Kate never really got the point of any of it. Not then. 10 years later, her mother was 6 feet under ground and Kate thought she was beginning to understand. 

 

She started small. Meals, care packages, blankets; a few streets over, subway stations, Central Park--

 

Central Park. And then everything changed.

 

_ Things keep changing, _ is what kate told her therapist later on, when her father finally realized something was off with her daughter--something his name-brand couldn't afford to let slide.  _ I used to think it was a good thing, but now, I don't know. _

 

_ I just don't know. _

 

_________

 

Kate's therapist recommended yoga. Kate thought that was pointless.

 

Kate's father recommended a personal bodyguard. Kate thought that was BS.

 

Kate flipped through her school’s course selection guide and came across a list of physical education courses.  _ Self-Defense 101 w/ James Barnes, assist. by Jessica Jones. _ Kate marked a checkbox on her calendar and handed it into her counselor without a second thought.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation happens (surprisingly). Billy's kinda an asshole, but Kate already knows that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all lemme tell you. I've been the certified Single Friend for the past year now, and the next two chapters are gonna be a lot of passive aggressiveness about how annoying it is to third wheel a couple that consists of two Actual Cinnamon Rolls.
> 
> Anyways, this was really fun to write.

“Um… you’re Kate, right?”

Kate looked up with a start, and then proceeded to nearly trip over her backpack.  _ Smooth, Bishop, really futzing-  _

_ SHIT. _

“...you good, princess?”

“Uhh, umm, yeah, I-” Standing in front of her, still decked out in an unironically patriotic getup was Miss America. Oh shit. 

Pointedly pretending not to stare at her from across the room was one thing- actually talking to her? Hahahaha,  _ shit _ -

“Uhh… yeah?” Shit, what was going on with her voice right there?? This is  _ not _ going the way she planned it out in her head- you know, not that she’s been obsessively mapping out how to talk to her for the past few weeks, who would do that-

“Uh, okay, cool. You’re friends with Billy, right?” The way Miss America framed the question was kinda strange- like she was about to dive into a conversation she  _ really _ did not want to have. Well, at least Kate wasn’t the only one feeling totally caught off guard. Or, wait, shit, maybe Kate was making her uncomfortable?? Maybe she should change her tone?? Or chill out a little?

...or maybe answer the goddamn question…

“Um, Kaplan? Yeah, we have a few classes together…” Billy was also the first person she kinda-came out to and the only one who seems to have caught onto her ridiculous crush, but no one needs to know that about her, ‘kay?

“...right, so, ahh, this might sound kinda weird or whatever but… okay, I guess what I wanna say is that… Look, Teddy’s a really great person, and he’s probably one of my best friends, and I just,” she paused for a second. “He can be too nice, you know? And he’s gotten screwed over by some really shitty people and… look, Billy seems like a great guy, I’m not saying anything against him, I’m just… looking out for a friend you know?”

 

Kate stared at her blankly. “Huh...uh?”

 

“Like, ah, sorry if this is awkward, but I guess I just wanna make sure Billy’s not a totally asshole? Like he’s not gonna totally screw my friend over, right?”

 

Billy. As in. Billy. Kaplan. Miss America is asking her about Billy Kaplan and… Teddy Altman??

 

“You… you don’t know what I’m talking about do you?”

 

The gears began to click into place in Kate’s head. Did he…  _ nah _ , there is  _ no way _ Billy Kaplan actually started talking to his crush before Kate could face her anxiety…

 

Oh, she was gonna kill him.

 

“Shit, sorry, I guess I just thought he would have told you, you guys seemed close-”

 

“No, uh, it’s fine,” Kate said still processing the last minute of their conversation. “So… uh… Billy and… Teddy?”

 

“Yeah, that’s a thing now,” Miss America said with some cross between a smirk and a grimace. “And ah, so-”

 

“Oh, yeah, no, sorry, Billy? Billy’s a sweetheart, I mean he’s head over heels for that kid anyways, it’s so…” Kate cut herself off. Miss America gave her a thoughtful look that Kate couldn’t quite comprehend. It was definitely a change from the resting scowl she wore at the gym but… hey, she’s probably just happy for her friend.

 

“Yeah, well. That’s nice. I’m happy for them,” America looked like she was on the verge of saying something else, but she stopped herself. She gave Kate a nod. “I guess I’ll be seeing you a lot more often now, Princess.”

 

Kate’s heart stopped, before realizing the implication behind her phrasing. “Oh… ‘cause of Billy and… right. Hey, I don’t think I caught your name?”

 

“America,” she said walking away, red, white, and blue still unironically draped across her back.

 

_ No futzing way. _ “Uh… oh,” was all Kate could muster, still a bit flustered. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

 

_ Real futzing smooth, Bishop. Real. Futzing. Smooth. _

 

_________

 

“WILLIAM. KAPLAN.”

 

“...hello to you too??”

 

“WHERE WERE YOU AFTER SCHOOL.”

 

“Um…” Even over the shitty phone reception, Kate could hear the panic in his voice.

 

“Oh, and tell Theodore I said hello, by the way, if he’s still there.” She heard the phone drop to the floor, followed by a string of curse words.

 

A faux chipper voice answered her a few moments later. “Hey! Kate! Guess what? I have some crazy news I have to tell you!!! You’re not gonna believe it!”

 

“That you’re an asshole? Yeah I’ve known that for months.”

 

“ _ Listen _ , I was  _ going _ to tell you, I just-”

 

“It’s okay, America got their first.” Silence.

 

“Um… who?”

 

“You know, America? The girl at the gym. Who you can’t stop nagging me about. With the American flag jacket?  _ Did you know her name was actually America??” _

 

Silence.

 

Then: “...no way…”

 

“ _ Yes way. _ Who does that?? Like who the fuck wears red white and blue on any day that’s not the fourth of July anyways, but seriously-”

 

“ _ Are you telling me you actually talked to her??” _

 

“...uhhh”

 

“ _ KATHERINE--” _

 

“Stop--”

 

“-- _ ELIZABETH BISHOP” _

 

“I hate that you know my middle name and I don’t know yours--”

 

“ _ I CAN’T BELIEVE IT YOU’RE MAKING PROGRESS--” _

 

_ “THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT YOU DO NOT CHANGE THE FUTZING TOPIC--” _


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate has some revelations about America, Billy and Teddy are the Worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit slow, sorry!
> 
> TW: Kate kinda vaguely references her assault while she's snapchatting Billy, right after she calls him a little shit and he responds with a smiley face.

_ Snapchat from billykaplan666 _

 

_ Snapchat from billykaplan666 _

 

_ Received 2 minutes ago _

  
  


_ Teddy is typing… _

 

_ Snapchat from Teddy _

 

_ Hey Kate. I don’t wanna be that person, but Billy really wants to just talk to you. He feels really bad and he just wants to make sure you’re okay. _

 

_ Kate is typing… _

 

_ :( _

 

_ … _

 

_ fine. _

 

Kate sighed and sent a quick picture to Billy. He responded seconds later.

 

_ Hey, I’m really sorry I didn’t talk to you sooner and I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time about America. _

_ But seriously _

_ Is everything okay? _

_ I’ve never seen you get so worked up about a crush before _

 

_ yeah. _

 

_...alright _

_ Are you sure? _

 

_ yeah. _

 

Kate paused. Okay, they’d been through this before. With Billy, it’s better to just be honest. It’s what she’d want his to do if it were the other way around.

 

_ ahh _

_ idk _

_ this is all just sorta new you know? _

_ idk why i’m acting like this _

_ ahhh _

_ i’ve never sort of felt like this for a girl _

_ and it’s just… new _

_ okay i’m sorry that must sound completely ridiculous to you of all people _

 

_ No _

_ I get what you mean _

_ It’s a process and I’m proud of you for being able to acknowledge that you like girls and that maybe you’re bi and all of that. _

_ You don’t have to have it all figured out now. _

 

_ yeah _

_ i guess you’re right _

_ maybe  _

_ you’re still a little shit _

 

_ :) _

 

_ this is also the first time i’ve felt something for someone  _

_ um _

_ in a while _

_ since stuff happened _

 

_ Oh _

_ Well _

_ You know what? You’re moving on _

 

_ yeah _

 

_ Yeah _

______

 

_ Snapchat from billykaplan666 _

 

Kate opened it to find a disgustingly cute picture of Billy leaned against Teddy, a ridiculously happy smile plastered across his face.  _ What an asshole _ …

 

Kate let out an exasperated sigh before letting her head fall onto the desk in front of her. She put her arms in front of her before she smacked her forehead onto the table because although she may be melodramatic and sad and lonely and pathetic, she wasn’t completely stupid.

 

She was happy for him. Really, she was. She’d only really been close with him for a few months, and yet they’d already been through so much together-- she knew what he’d been through. After dealing with homophobes and depression and a fucking suicide attempt, he deserved this. She was happy to see him smile. And Teddy? Teddy really was amazing. Sure, he was gorgeous, anyone with eyes could say that, and the way Billy talked about him, you could tell he was in love from day one. But Kate couldn’t help but be skeptical. No one was that perfect.

 

No one, unless your name is Teddy Altman, apparently. But he was a sweetheart. And Billy was happy. They both seemed so happy together. Kate had only heard snippets of Teddy’s mysterious backstory trauma, but they both seemed to be so much happier together.

 

Kate on the other hand? Kate was still futzing pathetic. Before she could spiral any further into self-deprecation, she heard a familiar voice say, “you good, princess?”

 

_ Oh no. Oh no no no no not you nope not doing this not now. _

 

Kate looked up. There, standing before her in all of her amazonian beauty (still wearing her american flag jacket, by the way), was Miss America-- or, uhh… America. Right.

 

Kate swallowed her anxiety and managed to push herself back up. “Yep, everything is just faaaaantastic.”

 

“Right…”

  
  


“Yep.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“Yep! That’s me-- totally fine. All the time.”

 

“...okay princess.” Great. It hadn’t even been a week and America already thought she was a weirdo. “Mind if I sit here?”

 

Kate blinked. “Uhh… yeaaaah. Why not??”  _ What the hell Bishop pull yourself together-- _

 

“Cool.” America sat down. 

 

“Cool…” Kate took a deep breath before looking back down at the book she was supposed to be reading for AP lit.  _ Don’t stare or be weird or do anything just be chill you can be chill _ \--

 

“Hey, ahh, Kate?” Kate looked up, startled. “I… don’t wanna sound rude or anything, but… do you want me to leave? You seem kinda… stressed.”

 

“No! No, it’s fine, it’s totally cool, I’m just, you know,” she was scrambling, she probably sounded pathetic. She was panicking and she  _ was _ pathetic. “It’s just, ah, been a long day, I guess.

 

“Yeah… I get that.”

 

An awkward pause. Which then proceeded to turn into an awkward silence.

 

“...so,” America looked up at Kate’s sudden attempt at conversation, “...how are you?” Kate was pathetic. Kate was the most futzing pathetic person on the planet.

 

“I’m, ah, I’m good, princess,” America shrugged. “Long Day, too.”

 

Kate nodded for what was probably a bit too long. She blushed and looked down at her phone, and-- “oh, ughh, it’s Billy again--” She opened her phone to see yet another,  _ ridiculously happy and cute photo of him and his boyfriend wow _ \-- “Ahh there’s our boys,” she showed America the photo before it disappeared, hoping to turn the conversation away from her inability to make small talk. Kate smirked and rolled her eyes, “they’re disgusting-”

 

“Why’d you say that?”

 

Kate blinked. Oh. Wait. Shit. “Uhh, no wait I didn’t mean it like that, I meant like they’re so ridiculously cute and lovey-dovey it’s disgusting, not like, cause they’re  _ gay _ , I mean-”

 

“-hey, hey, it’s cool, I’m not accusing you of anything, just, ah… yeah.” America looked a bit awkward after that. There was a look of discomfort and almost a bit of sadness in her eyes.  _ Fuck _ , Kate thought.  _ She probably thinks I’m an asshole now, or-- SHIT. What if she’s actually a homophobe-- wait no, why’d she be friends with Teddy then-- _

 

“-it  _ is _ kinda cute, though. How happy they are,” America shrugged and shifted a little. “Stuff like that… high school relationships? People like us don’t always get that,” and with that, she got up and grabbed her bag.

 

“I… yeah,” Kate breathed. A part of her was screaming.  _ So...America is probably maybe possibly not straight? KATE WHAT ARE YOU DOING SAY SOMETHING TELL HER DON’T FUCK THIS UP EVEN MORE _ . But she didn’t say anything. 17-years-old and a front of all the confidence in the world, and Kate couldn’t bring herself to come out to anyone other than Billy just yet. Besides, America didn’t deserve to have all that emotional baggage dumped on her, I mean,  _ come on _ , they just met.

 

“Catch you later, Princess,” America started to walk away.

 

“Wait!” The word left Kate’s mouth before she was even aware that she wanted to say something and-- “Where are you gong?”

 

“Ahh, home?”

 

“Oh, right, but, ah… I mean do you wanna ride or something? I’m probably gonna head out soon anyways, I’m not really getting anywhere with this,” Kate gestured to the book lying forgotten on the edge of her desk. Something about angsty russian college students killing people, as if that mattered at all to Kate’s life.

 

“Oh, ahh, it’s cool. It’s not that far of a walk, and it’s a nice day--”

 

“No, seriously, I insist. Might as well get to know each other, right?”

 

America smirked. “Maybe another time, Princess. Guess I’ll see you in gym.”

 

And with that, she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, confession time, the beginning of the part after the first break is kinda based off of true events. I'm the bitter single friend and my friends are cinnamon rolls.
> 
> Also, I finally got around to starting the new Hawkeye run that Kate's leading!!! I love it so far, aaaaaand Jessica Jones may or may not be showing up soon in this fic so I may or may not be trying to draw some inspiration from those comics ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter: Jessica Jones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I SAT DOWN AND TOLD MYSELF I WAS GONNA WRITE ANOTHER CHAPTER AND YOU KNOW WHAT??? I DID IT!!! YAYYY!!!
> 
> I really have no idea where this thing is going, but it's getting there. Probably.
> 
> Anyways, here's some Jessica Jones and some Clint Barton trying to mentor this poor freaking kid. Even though they're both kinda their own type of mess.
> 
> This chapter is a bit long because I got off on some tangents oops.
> 
> No America in this chapter, sorry, but it was nECESSARY FOR DEVELOPMENT, and she'll be getting her moment soon ;)
> 
> Enjoy!

_ Technically _ school started at 8 am.  _ Technically _ it was 6:45 am.  _ Technically _ Kate hated being awake before 11 am. But Kate usually didn’t stay up half the night turning over a single half-conversation in her head and try to come up with ways she could  _ not screw this over next time _ .

 

Also...  _ technically _ the weights room did not open until 7:15 am, and  _ technically _ Kate was not supposed to be here but… A for effort?

 

The lights were off and Kate was hanging off a pull up bar. The dim almost-sunlight drifting through the windows off to the side and the emergency exit sign were the only things allowing her vision.

 

Kate had woken up that morning at 5:13 am gasping for air, her eyes darting around a pitch-black bedroom, her arms rising to block her chest and--

 

Kate realized the room was silent. She caught her breath as her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. Usually this was the part where she rolled back onto her side, and either feel back asleep or lay in bed going over her schedule for the next day in her head, but Kate had been feeling particularly restless this (regrettably early) morning.

 

Now she was jumping down from where she was hanging off a pull-up bar in a way that she was sure was against some sort of regulations somewhere, in her school gym, a half an hour before her school even opened.

 

They say once you’ve hit rock bottom, the only direction you can go is up. Kate’s pretty sure she just found, like, a super strong shovel.

 

She made her way over to a punching bag that was shoved into a corner which she was pretty sure Clint called “storage”. She pulled her hands into fists and tried to clear her mind, focusing on the rhythm she was creating.

 

This wasn’t the first time Kate had snuck into school long before even the most dedicated of her classmates had even woken up. The first time she’d done it was not to long after Central Park. She hadn’t been able to sleep that time either, and she didn’t want to stay in her house. She didn’t want to just roam around the streets of New York at an ungodly hour of the morning either.

 

And that’s how she met Clint Barton.

 

The first time she met Clint, she almost killed him. Okay, if you asked Clint, he’d probably tell you that the first time he met Kate, he almost killed her, but Clint Barton is a lying liar who lies.

 

She snuck into the gym, knowing that most of the staff don’t even start to arrive until at  _ least _ 7:20, so there was no way she’d get caught. She didn’t even really care about working out, there was just something about sitting next to the windows, taking in the last of the moonlight, knowing no one would expect this of her, entranced her. The lights were off. No one was there but her. It was perfect.

 

Until of course, she heard footsteps behind her, and her mind turned to adrenaline.

 

She probably would have broken Clint’s nose, she found out later, if the man didn’t have the reflexes of some sort of super-spy. It was his damn fault for sneaking up behind her instead of just turning on the lights or shouting “Hey!” like a normal grumpy old man.

 

Pretty soon he had a grip on her arm in order to prevent any further facial-obstruction (the dude already had, like, 3 bandaids on his face from God knows what), and Kate was a fraction of a second away from a full blown panic attack. Clint seemed to realize something was up, and also had figured out that she probably-maybe wasn’t some weird punching-bag bandit and backed off. He got her to sit down and drink some water. Only by the time the first batch of students began pouring into the hallways did Clint warn her that she “uhh… probably shouldn’t do the whole… being at school when you’re not supposed to be at school thing… like, ever again.”

 

She returned two more times. Second time, he let her in with a sigh and a bit of a proud look on his face. He thought she was pretty weird, but he was also a pretty weird mentor-ish figure so she probably got all the weird from hanging around with him anyways.

 

Back to the present. Kate lost herself in the sound of her fists hitting her target, when the lights turned on. She was a bit startled, but she collected herself, and “Clint, it’s just me-”

 

“Kate? What are you doing here?”

 

Oh no. Not Clint. Very, very not Clint. Maybe if Clint were like a super mysterious badass kinda admittedly very hot chick. Guess she’s gonna have to figure out a plan to somehow convey to America that she is  _ also _ very much not straight and that she is  _ very much interested _ in like a date or something, you know, like a normal person, while sitting in detention.

 

Jessica Jones stood in the doorway of the gym with her eyebrows raised and her arms crossed. Kate’s interactions with Jones were limited to Barnes’ brief introduction to his assistant teacher on the first day of the semester and once a surprising nod of approval when Kate blocked a complicated attack Xavin had learned God knows where, during the Physical Education department’s attempt at “midterms”. It was, to this day, one of the greatest achievements of Kate’s life.

 

Most of the time Jones stood scowling in the back of the classroom (looking, okay, extremely badass but also super intimidating), occasionally making sarcastic remarks to Barnes or calling him an old man, even though he couldn’t have been more than ten years older than her.

 

Now she was standing in front of Kate at the asscrack of dawn, probably about to give Kate detention for the rest of her life.

 

“Kate.”

 

“Huh, what? Oh, um… couldn’t sleep?”

 

Jones raised an eyebrow. “And instead of just falling back asleep or watching TV or some other crap, you came to your school gym… early?”

 

“...yep that sounds about right.”

 

“You’re weird.”

 

“...yep.”

 

Jones paced a bit closer, checking the clock on the wall. “So… I should probably kick you out or give you detention for sneaking into school property, right?” Yep, there it was (Kate could tell her Clint usually let her in to practice, but he  _ probably _ wasn’t supposed to be doing that anyways and she didn’t want to rat him out. She kinda maybe liked the guy-- in a not creepy gross way. He was like a weird uncle). “...But,  _ nah _ .” Kate blinked. Okay. Soooo, Jessica Jones just got another 10 points in the Badass book. Not that… Kate was keeping count… of how badass the women in her life are… in a tiny notebook… that would be weird.

 

“You… really?? Thank you, oh my god, I promise it won’t happen again--”

 

“Nah, kid, you’re good. Although as long as you’re here…”

 

Kate groaned. She was probably gonna have to mop up the sweat of 4000+ hormonal teenagers or run around turning on all the fitness machines, or,  _ oh god _ , try to organize Clint’s so called “storage” space--

 

“...you alright if we had a little talk?”

 

...what.

 

“...what.”

 

Jessica sighed. “Listen, kid, I’m not… good at this whole feelings thing, but… I’ve noticed you’ve seemed a bit off in class lately. I’m not gonna intrude on your privacy, but… there’s some things you can’t just… punch away,” she grimaced, “believe me, I’ve tried.”

 

“I… oh, um…” Maybe it was the rush of endorphins from working out before 7 am, maybe it was the fact that it was  _ before 7 futzing am like dear god how was her brain supposed to work this early in the morning _ , but Kate found herself blurting out, “yeah, um, things have been kinda shit. Uh, I mean bad, things have been kinda not so great lately--”

 

“Kid. Sit down. Take a deep breath. We got 18 more minutes before people usually start to show up. Don’t say anything if you don’t wanna, or say everything if that’s what you wanna do.”

 

“I… thanks,” Kate plopped down onto a nearby bench taking in as deep a breath as her lungs were willing to take. It wasn’t even 7 am yet and she was sitting her about to spill her feelings out to her kinda scary, kinda emotionless self-defense teacher. Okay so she may have Clint beat on the weirdo scale. “Things… a lot of things are changing.”

 

“You’re in high school. Shit’s supposed to change.”

 

“I just. It’s not always good.” Kate took a deep breath. “Some… bad stuff happened a few months ago, and you think I’d be over it now, but I’m not--”

 

“Hey, woah, woah, woah. I’m gonna stop you right there. Whatever it is that happened, there’s no fucking timeline for how long it takes you to ‘get over it’. Everyone recovers at their own pace, okay?” Something in Jones’ eyes changed from casual concern to some sort of genuine sympathy. Whatever Kate had just said had just made this personal for her as well.

 

“I… you sound like my therapist,” Kate sighed, unsure of where this sudden burst of honesty coming from.

 

Jones shrugged. “My neighbor’s one of those. He’s probably rubbing off on me. All that touchy-feely stuff… yuck.”

 

Kate smiled a little. She was beginning to like Jones more than just admiring-her-detective-show-heroine aura from afar. “I… I’m getting there. I mean, I think I’m getting better, and then this morning, I woke up from another set of futzing nightmares, and it was  _ bad _ , and I don’t know, there was this girl yesterday, and that’s a whole other problem like, I don’t even know her that well, but she’s so beautiful and amaz-- oh, um, sorry probably, TMI…”

 

But Jones was just smirking at her. “Ah, so now we got some girl-trouble on top of all that, do we, Bishop?”

...well. She was in this far. “I… I guess I like girls now. Well, and boys. Which is new to me-- the girls, not the boys-- and-- and part of me is scared this is probably some part of some weird trauma induced thing, like I’m 17 shouldn’t have this shit figured out-?”

 

“22,” Jones interrupted. “That’s how old I was when I first realized I had feelings for another girl. My best friend, Trish, actually,” Jones sighed and smirked a bit. “She was straight though, so it never would have happened anyways. And here I am, living happily with my fiance, Luke, who’s a man. People are complicated, Kate. You’re still a kid, you still have so much to figure out. Don’t beat yourself up over some girl-problems.”

 

“I… oh,” Kate sat shocked for a second. Well, that was… surprising. And… surprisingly reassuring. “Uh--”

 

“I’m probably totally overstepping some boundaries here, right? Okay, this is weird--”

 

“No, thank you. Seriously, thank you, I-- good talk.” Kate stood up. “That really helped me, it’s just sometimes… perspective, you know? It’s all weird. Thank you.” 

 

Kate heard footsteps all but running towards them. Clint Barton nearly tripped around the corner trying to balance what looked like 5 bow and arrow sets and an actual coffee pot. He spilled coffee all over the entrance, miraculously missing the collection of archaic weapons.

 

“Okay… this looks bad.”

 

“ _ Barton _ , what the hell-”

 

Clint looked up. “Oh, hey Katie-Kate,” his gaze drifted over to Jones, “hey, Jessie wanna maybe help me out here?”

 

“Why… do you have… bow and fucking arrows?”

 

Clint looked back at Kate, a grin breaking out across his face. “Archery club!”

 

“Clint, who the fuck would join archery club?”

 

“I would.”

 

“Clint, who the fuck other than your crazy-ass, ‘I’m going to show up to school two hours early to punch shit’ prodigy over here would join archery clu-”

 

Kate took that as her cue. “I’m going to my locker, bye Clint! Bye Jessica!”

 

“Katie-Kate, no you gotta help me out here--”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fun fact: I wasn't originally going to include Clint in this chapter, it just sorta happened... and I feel like that's the most Clint Barton-way to write Clint Barton into a fic. No context. Just. There he is. Dropping perfectly good coffee pots all over the place. Gosh darn it, Clinton.
> 
> Also, totally off-topic side note-- I wrote another fic recently that is waaaaaay darker than this. It's really freaking sad and deals with heavy stuff (there's a suicide attempt in it) and I'm not sure yet if I feel totally comfortable posting it because of the subject matter, but also I feel really good about my writing for the piece so?? I would like to share it with the world?? It's really personal to me and writing it was actually pretty theraputic, I just don't wanna trigger anyone if they read it. I know I've been down that path and it's not fun. Anyone got any advise on that?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AYEEE GUESS WHO'S RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS??
> 
> nah okay i apologize that this got a little cliche, i just kinda hit a dead end with this fic but! I have a pretty good idea of how the last few chapters are going to go now soooo yay for cliches maybe?
> 
> also i spent a lot of time trying to figure out if there's a homecoming equivalent to the word promposal but apparently there's not

“…you-you’re falling asleep again…”

 

“Hmmwhaa noimnot--”

 

“Right. Tell me again why you thought waking up at 5 am was a good idea--”

 

“Because,  _ trauma _ , Billy, fuck you,” right, yeah, the unmasked honesty in her voice let her know that  _ maybe _ she was a little too tired. Maybe she should’ve just spent her morning watching crap TV until she fell back asleep or waiting in line for an extra-venti expresso because that’s totally a thing Starbucks makes, right?

 

“Uh, good point,” Billy looked sort of taken aback so  _ ha. _

 

He paused for a moment. “So… homecoming’s coming up, you know-”

 

Oh no. Not this. Kate thought they had reached a stalemate, that her last America-related meltdown had meant the end of her friends meddling in her love life, but apparently, she was wrong.

 

“--and I’m just not really sure what I’m supposed to do. Like… should I ask Teddy go with me? Like to the dance?? Or wait for him to ask me? Or do we just both ask each other or is it some kind of unspoken thing because we’re dating, like--”

 

Oh, thank god. She could deal with other people’s feelings. Just not her own right now. Or… ever… would be nice-- oh  _ god _ , was she going to turn into Jones?? Or--  _ shit _ \-- was she going to turn into Clint?? “Billy, listen. It’s a dumb tradition based on gender roles and 1950s old people values. Just talk to Teddy about it!” She paused for a second then sighed. “Okay, I know this is important to you, and I’m sorry. Just… what do you wanna do?”

 

Billy ducked his head as he blushed. He shrugged a little.

 

“ _ Come on _ , just tell me.”

 

“I, uh, I know it’s cheesy and,  _ okay _ , maybe a little outdated but I thought it would be really nice if I could ask him to go to the dance with me? Like I’m not going to do some over-the-top thing in front of the entire school like Chase did, but maybe like, uh, I don’t know flowers?”

 

“Flowers?!? Hell no, Kaplan, if you’re going to do this thing, you’ve gotta be original--”

 

“Do you have a better idea?”

 

“Dude, he’s  _ your _ boyfriend…”

 

Billy smiled, a sort of dreamy expression on his face. “Yeah, he is.”

 

Kate groaned and rolled over from where she was sitting on the floor so that she was laying on her back. “I did not sign up for this shit.”

 

“You  _ loooooove _ us, admit it.”

 

“Eh, sometimes.” Kate sat back up.

 

“...you know there’s still space in our group if you wanna go with us. You don’t even need to go with someone, Nico’s doesn’t have a date--”

 

“Nah. I’ll still crash your guys’ after party…” Kate trailed off. America had just walked through the doors on the other side of the room. Kate tried her best to look as chill and, okay, maybe also as low-key totally sexy, as possible. She could do this, they’d talked now, introduced themselves. Kate wasn’t just some creep staring at the other girl from across the gym.

 

Right?

 

America looked up and caught her gaze. She nodded, and Kate swore she saw a ghost of a smile cross her face.

 

“...what are you-- oh, hey,” Billy turned around, “America!” A shit eating grin spread across Billy’s face, as he waved for America to join them. Because he’s a  _ dick _ .

 

America raised an eyebrow and replaced the weights she’s been in the process of lifting off the storage rack before walking over to the pair. “Hey, what’s up?”

 

“Nothing really, just trying to convince Kate here that she should go to her  _ senior homecoming _ \--”

 

America shrugged. “Yeah, not gonna be much help there. Not my thing.”

 

Kate blinked. “Me neither. Wait, I mean-- you know that already because Billy just said that, um… but yeah,” she turned to Billy, hoping to save herself from further embarrassment. “There ya go. Chavez gets me.”

 

Billy sighed and rolled his eyes. “Aw, man. That’s too bad. You got any other plans, for that night?” There was something suspiciously enthusiastic in his voice. Whatever was about to happen, Kate was probably not going to like it, but she was still  _ probably _ going to owe him big time later.

 

“Not really, probably just gonna binge watch  _ Buffy _ , or--”

 

“Hey, wanna maybe do something together? I mean, since we’re both not going, um, we could totally just watch TV or something if that’s what you wanna do, it’s just better with company, you know--” Kate stopped.  _ What the hell was she doing?? _

 

“...yeah actually that sounds great, princess,” America looked a little surprised, though at Kate’s sudden invite or her own response, Kate wasn’t sure. Then she smiled. “I’ve probably gotta head back, but I’ll catch you later so we can make some actual plans?”

 

“Yeah,” Kate said, anxiety still blooming in her chest, but this time mixed with a sense of… weird happy mushy giddiness that she wasn’t really sure if she absolutely hated or loved. This could… maybe be okay. “See ya!”

 

America walked away, and, yeah, Kate couldn’t really keep a smile off of her face.

 

Until she remembered Billy was sitting right next to her, with that told-ya-so look in his eyes, and aww  _ hell _ no was she letting him get away with this.

 

“You. Are. The. Worst. Human. Being--”

 

\--annnnnnd now you owe me big time which is why I was thinking--”

 

“--yes I will help you come up with a way to ask your dumb boyfriend to go to dumb homecoming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen I love the Runaways as well as YA so i decided to namedrop a few of my other kids just bc I can. And you KNOW Chase would do something ridiculous to ask Gert to go to homecoming/prom/whatever and Gert would act like she hated it but she really loved it yeah okay wow I should write some Runaways fic.
> 
> I wrote like 90% of this at 1 am bc insomnia is real so please lmk if there's any major errors or whatever
> 
> Also-- I don't think I mentioned this before, but y'all should check out my tumblr http://queerophelia.tumblr.com/ and come talk to me about marvel stuff :)


End file.
